whisper

To follow Jesus implies that we enter into a way of life that is given character and shape and direction by the one who calls us. To follow Jesus means picking up rhythms and ways of doing things that are often unsaid but always derivative from Jesus, formed by the influence of Jesus. To follow Jesus means that we can't separate what Jesus is saying from what Jesus is doing and the way that he is doing it. To follow Jesus is as much, or maybe even more, about feet as it is about ears and eyes.
-Eugene H. Peterson-

There are rhythms and currents to this journey. The deeper you climb and wrestle and dance your way into them, the easier it is to start to spot them. They are whispers often silent to much of the world. Rarely do they make sense in our view of the big picture. (because, really, we have such a tiny glimpse at the big picture) They are whispering invitations into collisions with the Holy. Whispering invitations into something bigger and better than we have ever known before.

These whispers are so often hard to hear. Sometimes they are far more painful than a whisper should be. Often for me, it has taken watching the whisper in the lives of others to learn the rhythms of the whisper of the Lord.

Augustine, in his pursuit to have the Lord overtake all of him... "Oh God...the Life of the soul that loves you." Martin Luther has he wars against what is within, terrified that it will impact the magic of the Glory of a God. "...for without you, I would easily wreck it all". Brennan Manning in his heartbreaking quest to believe in the depth and height and width of the love of the Lord... "He has a single relentless stance toward us: he loves us."

In the past few months as from afar I watched the gentle steps of my friend JB, who is living (probably later in life than he expected) in the severe and merciful tension "between the dreaming and the coming true". (quote from Robert Benson) I have watched the whispers of the Holy in the lives of my friends Hitchy and Emmy as they discover what it means to live in simplicity and humility. I see the whispers in Jake and CoCo as they plant roots in a place that has offered them sickness and heartbreak and laughter and cold and mission and hope. I can audibly hear the whispers thousands of feet in the air with Reno. In my brother, who is more important to me than he knows, as he bravely accepts the anointing of the Holy to stand in front of hundreds of judging eyes to tell the greatest story that has ever been told.

And, more than anywhere else, I see and hear and experience the whispers into the heart of my husband, who always leads me to the gentle feet of the rabbi, as his heart becomes captive to the rhythm of the Father. He is changing. And, because he is a really, really good husband, he is faithful to bring me along with him. And, hand in hand, I feel like we are standing in the middle of the river, ready to lift our feet and let the current take us away.





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